


high for this

by thotsandfeelings



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25908196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thotsandfeelings/pseuds/thotsandfeelings
Summary: Donna goes to the dentist.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 11
Kudos: 101





	high for this

"Shhh," he whispers at her again. Trying and utterly failing at getting his happy-gassed assistant up the stairs and into her apartment. This was the second neighbor they've passed on the single flight up to her room, Donna greeting them with "this is my boss. He's taking me to bed," and immediately dissolving into giggles.

"She had a dentist appointment," Josh quickly explains to sweet Mrs. Richards, hoping she doesn't think he's taking advantage of Donna. "Just making sure she gets home okay."

He nudges Donna forward without waiting for a response from the older lady. "Your neighbors are gonna think I'm just another pervy politician schtupping his assistant," he whisper-yells, pretending to sound scandalized. 

"Well, why aren't you?" Donna asks and Josh becomes a statue, his whole world freezing until she dissolves into giggles again and he exhales loudly. 

"C'mon, Dopey," he says, tugging her into her apartment. "Let's get you to bed."

When they finally make it into the bedroom, Donna flops down onto her bed unceremoniously, legs dangling across the side. "I need you, Josh." She sits up to look at him rooting around her dresser for her pajamas.

"I know," he replies, back still to her. "You'd have to spend the night at the dentist's if I hadn't come to rescue you."

He smiles at her cheekily and he drops some sleep shorts beside her on the bed. "No," she whines petulantly. "I  _ need _ you." And she starts to take off her pants.

Josh freezes, eyebrows raising at her comically. "Donna, what-"

"These stupid pants," she mutters, falling on her back as she tries and fails to push them off her legs. When she's finally successful, she lets out a triumphant 'ha!' and Josh just continues staring at her, his mouth open dumbly. She grabs the shorts he had laid by her and pulls them on, wiggling in a way that makes Josh have to slam his eyes closed. 

"Donna," he says again, voice straining. "I-"

"Josh, do you think I could be a deep sea diver?" 

He opens his eyes again, confused, and sees that she is, thankfully, fully clothed. "I think I'd be good," she says, looking up at him expectantly. 

"Uh... I don't know," he says, rolling with her conversation topic changes and shaking the image of her laying on her bed in her green underwear from his mind. "Sharks are down there and, you know, whales." He shivers. "It's kinda scary."

She takes his comment into consideration for a minute. "Yeah," she says, sighing heavily as if her life-long dreams of being a deep sea diver have been crushed and Josh's heart stirs in his chest. "Besides, I think I'd miss you too much. Even though your hair hasn't been cooperating lately." 

He snorts at that. "You're gonna give  _ me _ a toothache next if you don't quit it with that sweet talk, Donnatella," he teases and he sits down on the bed beside her. He tugs lightly on the drawstring of her hoodie. "Come on, arms up. You always end up choking yourself in your sleep when you wear this to bed and then run around my office the next morning, lamenting dramatically about life being too short."

”Life  _ is _ short, Josh,” she says wistfully, nodding her head sleepily. “We gotta stop being so short, you know? We gotta be taller, Josh. We could be  _ so _ tall.” 

“You’re pretty tall already,” he says, ignoring the underlining meaning behind her slurred words. He doesn’t want to open  _ that _ can of worms right now while she’s higher than a kite. He lifts her limp forearms to rest on his shoulders and grabs the hem of the old Yale sweatshirt she'd stolen from him months ago to help her pull it off. He's interrupted by her sudden laugh and he pulls back. "What's funny?"

"Tickles," she slurs, giggling sleepily. 

Josh just smiles and carefully continues the hoodie's ascent up her torso. The faded Wisconsin Badgers t-shirt she's wearing underneath it rides up on her stomach and it takes a lot of Josh's energy not to stare at the strip of bare skin for too long. He's sure to be extra careful when he brings the garment up her neck and up and off her head, not wanting to jostle her sore mouth.

He throws the offending garment into her closet when he's finally got it off of her and he leans back over to help her under the covers. He leaves momentarily to grab her a water bottle from her fridge and when he returns, she's near tears. 

"Hey," he says, setting the water bottle down and reaching for the prescription bottle of pain meds the dentist had given her. "What's wrong? Does it hurt? Do you want a pill?" He shuffles one of the Vicodin's out into his palm, but she shakes her head.

"Were you really gonna make me sleep at the dentist's tonight?" she asks, complete betrayal and devastation lacing her voice. Josh can't hide the snort that escapes him and he's instantly sorry when it sets off the waterworks.

"Donnaaaaa," he sing-songs affectionately and drops the pills back on her nightstand. He leans down to sit on the edge of her bed and pats her leg reassuringly. "They wouldn't let you stay the night there anyway. They'd have kicked you out." 

"So, you were gonna let me sleep in the street?!" She squawks, covering her face and wailing comically. 

Normally crying women freak him out, but he's well-versed in Donna's levels of emotion. He knows she's serious in her drugged up train of thought and he also knows that he absolutely should not laugh at her. He wishes he had his video camera so he can show her how ridiculous she is tomorrow when she's sober because she never believes him when he re-tells the chronicles of her under the influence.

Josh sighs and and slides fully onto the bed with her, not having to do much for Donna to crawl onto his chest and continue her woeful cries. 

"Shh," he hushes her for the third time that evening. "I'd never make you sleep over at a dentist's office. Or the street, for that matter." He rubs her shoulder and bicep in what he hopes is a soothing manner and lays his head on top of hers. "Those waiting room seats are super uncomfortable anyway."

He looks back down at her then, grinning when he sees her red-rimmed eyes. He reaches up to wipe a stray tear away, touching the tip of her nose for a second with his pointer finger. She's so goddamn endearing, it makes his chest tighten. 

"I need you too, you know," he murmurs, calling back to their earlier conversation. His resolve for not spilling his heart out onto her handmade quilt is quickly dissolving the longer he's wrapped up in her. He needs to head home.

"I knew you knew," she slurs drowsily, tucking back into his neck.

If he was anyone else, he'd have to ask her to clarify what she meant, but he's not someone else. He's Josh and he  _ knows _ . He knows they need each other more than they should. He knows this thing between them is tipping precariously over the point of no return and he knows that he could so easily just let himself fall asleep right now, right here. He could take care of her the way he desperately wants to. He could say fuck it and be happy, but his brain whirs and he sees the headlines calling for his resignation, Mary Marsh leading the charge against the defamation of Donna's name, and he comes slamming back to reality. 

He looks down at the soft blonde hair below his nose and feels her breathing deepen. He moves to sit up and get out of her bed, thinking she’s finally asleep when her arm sneaks across his waist, anchoring him to her. "No," she whines and she tugs on his belt loops until he falls back down by her side. She throws a leg over both of his, firmly locking him in her grasp.

He chuckles at her and shifts until her head is nestled on his shoulder again. He'll allow himself a few precious minutes to be with her. "Donna," he says. "I gotta get up. I have to go back to the White House for a late meeting with Leo." He doesn't move to leave though, just lets his hand keep sliding up and down her back.

"I need you, Josh," she whispers again and his hand stills. He wonders if she can hear his heart pounding beneath her ear, attempting to escape from his ribcage. 

He murmurs her name again, but he's met with a light snore. He resumes his soothing motion on her back, letting out the breath he'd been holding. He gives himself another minute, trying to commit the feeling of laying in bed with Donna to his memory.  _ You could be doing this every night _ ,  _ you know _ , a voice whispers and he shakes his head. His resolve returning once again. 

He gently lifts Donna off of him and he slips out of her bed. He tucks her in and writes a quick note for her to read in the morning and sticks it between the pill bottle and the water on her nightstand. Josh reaches over and turns off her alarm. She'd tried fighting him on it earlier, but he told her under no circumstances is she allowed in the office until Monday morning. He knows how annoying tooth pain can be. She's under strict orders to unhealthily binge trashy television and drink all the tea she can muster. 

After Josh has everything situated, he looks down at her one more time. She's got an errant strand of hair tickling her nose, so he brushes it back behind her ear. He leans in and kisses her temple softly. "Goodnight, Donnatella," he whispers, turning to walk back out into the chilly DC evening, locking the door behind him.

* * *

The sun shining through a slit in her curtains brings Donna back to the land of consciousness. She instantly cups her jaw and cheek, groaning when the dull pain from yesterday's procedure makes itself known. She looks to her nightstand and sees the water and orange prescription bottle, reaching for both and downing a couple pills. Her fingers brush a note and it falls onto her bed. She sets the water back on the table, reading Josh's messy scrawl:

_ Go back to sleep! You're not coming to work today. Direct orders from your tyrant boss. I'll swing by for lunch around 2 loaded with DC's finest Chicken Noodle. Take your pills, press play on your tv, and I'll see you soon. Josh x _

She smiles and tucks the note into her bedside drawer so she doesn't lose it. She grabs her remote to turn on the tv, the opening menu to Mary Poppins greeting her. Pressing play like Josh told her to, she burrows back under her covers wondering if she could call him to change her order to tomato over chicken noodle as she falls asleep before the opening credits have even finished rolling.

(He brings both.)

**Author's Note:**

> Such a pointless little fluff piece. I've had a stroke of writer's block this week and this has been in my drafts for awhile, so I decided to post it. Hope you guys enjoy :)
> 
> Title is from lyrics to 'High For This' by The Weeknd because I couldn't come up with anything better lol.


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